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By Oluseye Ojo
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) have said Nigeria needs accurate data for effective planning, policy dialogue and programme designs in a bid to improve the lives of children, women, and households.
The disclosure was made at the flag-off ceremony of the seventh round of the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS7) held at Kakanfo Inn and Conference Centre, Ring Road, Ibadan, Ibadan, Oyo State, for the South West Zone on Thursday
The UNICEF’s Programme and Social Policy Manager, Muhammad Okorie; Statistician-General of the Federation and Chief Executive Officer of NBS, Prince Adeyemi Adeniran; as well ss National Consultant for MICS 7, Dr. Isiaka Olarewaju, emphasised the importance of accurate data in their messages on the occasion.
The survey, which is being led by the National and South West States Bureau of Statistics in collaboration with UNICEF and other partners, will commence on December 3, 2025 and end by the end of March 2026. It was officially flagged off by the Statistician-General of the Federation for Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti States.
Prince Adeniran, who was represented by Mr. Audu Olokpo, Director of Procurement in NBS, in his keynote address, said MICS7 is a government-owned and NBS-led flagship household survey, which is globally recognised and coordinated internationally by UNICEF.
“Since its first implementation in 1995, MICS has continued to grow in scope, ambition, and technical sophistication.”
Adeniran emphasised that MICS7 is not just a statistical exercise, it is a developmental necessity, saying: ‘The policies of tomorrow depend on the accuracy of data we collect today. If and when we get this right, Nigeria will have at its disposal a powerful evidence base to improve the lives of children, women, and households, and to achieve sustainable and inclusive development.’
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Also, Okorie from UNICEF, Lagos Field Office, in his special message, noted that reliable data from household surveys like MICS is essential for evidence based policy making for children, women and households.
He stated that UNICEF and other stakeholders have the mandate of ensuring that the rights of the children are fulfilled. He added that the rights start from the right to survival, right to development, as well as “right to participate and contribute to the achievement of the national goals. It all starts with data.”
Okorie described MICS as a system that generates most data for setting standards for children, measuring achievements of child rights, and also providing evidence with which planning could be done for the future.
‘”The MICS has been going on since 1995. This is the seventh edition of it. Its significance is something we cannot overemphasize, because unlike other forms of data, which are produced, looking at child rights indicators, this looks like a more comprehensive data set that helps us to measure up to 40 indicators of children, women, and the households. It is very important that this is done and it is done very well.
“The team has been trained by experts. This process is led by the National Bureau of Statistics and the States Bureau of Statistics, of course with financial and technical support from UNICEF as well as other partners.”
In the same vein, National Consultant for MICS Round Seven, Dr. Isiaka Olarewaju, revealed that new things have been introduced into the survey, including ‘Learning Foundation’, which is about measurement of learning of children in the school.
‘In the previous rounds, that was not included; even those that were included, like the time used, which is how people spend their time in the household, has also been expanded to capture more indicators of interest,’ he stated.
Olarewaju also appealed to the household, particularly the heads of households, and members that “they should cooperate with our team of data collectors, because we are not threats to their security, rather we are partners in progress for development of children, women and men.”
